A teacher's role in the classroom is to be a facilitator of growth and knowledge. To achieve this goal, many things must be done simultaneously in order to ensure that every student is given equal opportunity to succeed. The list extensive and includes, organization, planning, lesson execution, classroom management, forming connections with students, becoming a member of the community, along with many others. While important, many of these are just tools to help a teacher fulfill a few key parts of educating high school students.
The first is to create a safe environment of respect that enables student learning. It is imperative that a teacher uses a combination of classroom management strategies to keep students focused, on task, and feeling safe. Many students will come into the classroom from situations at home that are not optimal and do not promote feelings of safety and are not necessarily conducive to learning. A teacher should make his classroom safe not only in the physical sense, but as a place to safely explore new ideas, to take chances, take risks, make mistakes, and grow from miscomprehensions. Especially in a science classroom it is important for students to feel free to make mistakes and to explore phenomenon in order to confront preconceived notions of the world. To do this a teach should keep students safe but also treat them with respect and model respectful interactions at all times. This environment is also built through tolerance and from instruction on how to frame an argument in a way to exchange ideas without targeting individuals. A zero tolerance policy for bullying is important and encouraging students to see their minds as the growing, malleable nerve structures they are.
The second goal for a teacher is to work on student's intrinsic motivation, critical thinking, and positive social interactions. To do this I plan to make use of small and large group discussions. During all class discussions participation will be encouraged and the only answer that will not be accepted is a closed version of, “I don't know.” In science there may not be a more important ability than the ability to ask the right questions when confronted by a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. The scientist's reaction to not knowing is the driving force of science. Without curiosity, and the ability to phrase that curiosity as a question, science would grind to a halt. For this reason, I am a proponent of providing students with ways to say, “I don't know” that help the student, the class, or the group, discover the misunderstandings and address them through asking good questions. This will be based off of the “Growth Mindset” model described by Carol Dweck. By teaching my students how to ask questions to answer problems in their lives, I hope to demonstrate how the scientific method can be used every day and provide an intrinsic reason to learn science.
The third role of a teacher is to provide a place, a time, and the motivation to learn the subject. Incorporating real life into the course, and allowing students to solve real world problems is challenging but worth it. Using current events from the local and global communities while providing students with the autonomy to make some choices in their topics, will show students how science can be used to answer their questions. Using the world to learn about chemistry is only fitting since the goal of chemistry is to learn about the world. I think that lectures should be interactive, full of questions (posed both by the teacher and the students), and limited to addressing misconceptions on a large scale level, explaining expectations for projects/experiments, introductions to lab safety, and if students indicate that more direct instruction would be beneficial. I think that framing projects and learning in a way that provides students with actual challenges that require using chemical concepts to navigate and succeed creates an environment where learning has a purpose and where success is encouraged and promoted.
Becoming my ideal teacher will be a challenge, as much of what I believe does not directly address the need for high scores on tests and the memorization of specific content. My opinion is that chemistry should be a way to interact with the world and science should be taught as a way to critically approach knowledge to be a better informed individual. It is impossible to know everything, but it should be possible to know how to form an informed opinion. I think one of the most under-taught lessons of science is that negative data is still valid and, sometimes, can teach more than positive data. I hope to show students that science is only effective as a way of understanding our world if we understand the limitations of science. Understanding that the collaborative nature of science enables mistakes to be caught, even if it takes a long time, should show how important it is to always question and think critically. As a teacher I hope to share my passion for science, my love of learning, and the wonder I feel every time I think of the millions of chemical reactions occurring around me and enabling my existence. Growing up I was fortunate to have some amazing teachers. The kind of teachers that challenged me to think in new ways, showed me a new world to explore, and made schoolwork intrinsically rewarding. I also had some less effective teachers. Most people wouldn't be happy about this, however, having diverse experiences as a student helps to make me a well rounded teacher. It is a combination of their inspiration and the knowledge gained through my masters program and in class experiences that shapes my philosophy on teaching.
The first is to create a safe environment of respect that enables student learning. It is imperative that a teacher uses a combination of classroom management strategies to keep students focused, on task, and feeling safe. Many students will come into the classroom from situations at home that are not optimal and do not promote feelings of safety and are not necessarily conducive to learning. A teacher should make his classroom safe not only in the physical sense, but as a place to safely explore new ideas, to take chances, take risks, make mistakes, and grow from miscomprehensions. Especially in a science classroom it is important for students to feel free to make mistakes and to explore phenomenon in order to confront preconceived notions of the world. To do this a teach should keep students safe but also treat them with respect and model respectful interactions at all times. This environment is also built through tolerance and from instruction on how to frame an argument in a way to exchange ideas without targeting individuals. A zero tolerance policy for bullying is important and encouraging students to see their minds as the growing, malleable nerve structures they are.
The second goal for a teacher is to work on student's intrinsic motivation, critical thinking, and positive social interactions. To do this I plan to make use of small and large group discussions. During all class discussions participation will be encouraged and the only answer that will not be accepted is a closed version of, “I don't know.” In science there may not be a more important ability than the ability to ask the right questions when confronted by a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. The scientist's reaction to not knowing is the driving force of science. Without curiosity, and the ability to phrase that curiosity as a question, science would grind to a halt. For this reason, I am a proponent of providing students with ways to say, “I don't know” that help the student, the class, or the group, discover the misunderstandings and address them through asking good questions. This will be based off of the “Growth Mindset” model described by Carol Dweck. By teaching my students how to ask questions to answer problems in their lives, I hope to demonstrate how the scientific method can be used every day and provide an intrinsic reason to learn science.
The third role of a teacher is to provide a place, a time, and the motivation to learn the subject. Incorporating real life into the course, and allowing students to solve real world problems is challenging but worth it. Using current events from the local and global communities while providing students with the autonomy to make some choices in their topics, will show students how science can be used to answer their questions. Using the world to learn about chemistry is only fitting since the goal of chemistry is to learn about the world. I think that lectures should be interactive, full of questions (posed both by the teacher and the students), and limited to addressing misconceptions on a large scale level, explaining expectations for projects/experiments, introductions to lab safety, and if students indicate that more direct instruction would be beneficial. I think that framing projects and learning in a way that provides students with actual challenges that require using chemical concepts to navigate and succeed creates an environment where learning has a purpose and where success is encouraged and promoted.
Becoming my ideal teacher will be a challenge, as much of what I believe does not directly address the need for high scores on tests and the memorization of specific content. My opinion is that chemistry should be a way to interact with the world and science should be taught as a way to critically approach knowledge to be a better informed individual. It is impossible to know everything, but it should be possible to know how to form an informed opinion. I think one of the most under-taught lessons of science is that negative data is still valid and, sometimes, can teach more than positive data. I hope to show students that science is only effective as a way of understanding our world if we understand the limitations of science. Understanding that the collaborative nature of science enables mistakes to be caught, even if it takes a long time, should show how important it is to always question and think critically. As a teacher I hope to share my passion for science, my love of learning, and the wonder I feel every time I think of the millions of chemical reactions occurring around me and enabling my existence. Growing up I was fortunate to have some amazing teachers. The kind of teachers that challenged me to think in new ways, showed me a new world to explore, and made schoolwork intrinsically rewarding. I also had some less effective teachers. Most people wouldn't be happy about this, however, having diverse experiences as a student helps to make me a well rounded teacher. It is a combination of their inspiration and the knowledge gained through my masters program and in class experiences that shapes my philosophy on teaching.